Classroom Policies - Mrs. Lonsberry and Mr. Costanzo St. Johns Middle School 6 th Grade Social Studies

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1 Classroom Materials Classroom Policies - Mrs. Lonsberry and Mr. Costanzo St. Johns Middle School 6 th Grade Social Studies lonsberrym@sjredwings.org, costanzov@sjredwings.org Website: Phone: For this class, you will need: a pen or pencil, a binder (for history only), preferably red, 3 tab dividers, and an open, ready mind. You need to bring these materials, along with your planner, homework folder, and a reading book every day. If this is a problem for you for any reason, please see me. Your binder will be your main tool in class. You will receive materials periodically that will need to be kept in your binder, and it may be checked for a grade. Your binder will be for assignments that are in progress, homework, returned work for studying, etc. Many students struggle with organization, and this is one way to help you stay organized. *Additional copies of materials will not be provided if they are lost. Students will be responsible for obtaining replacements on their own.* Passes, Attendance & Tardy Policy Attendance in class is CRUCIAL; many activities are just not possible for you to make up. If you will be out for an extended period of time, please speak to us ahead of time. You will be marked present when you are in class, in your assigned seat when the bell rings. At SJMS, we expect you to stay in class once you arrive. Personal business should be handled before or after school, or between classes. You are allowed the passes from your planner each trimester. Additional passes may cost you make up time after class or after school. Make-Up Work/Late Work If you miss class, it is your responsibility to find out what you ve missed and complete the work. You are required to make up work that you have missed; it will NOT be excused because you missed it. We are happy to help you with this before or after school. However, please be aware that we cannot take time away from today s class to teach you what the rest of the class learned yesterday; it is not fair to the rest of the class. Before or after school is an excellent time to get assistance. Your assignments will almost always be available electronically and you can always send one of us an or check the class website to get work as well. The extended day learning before and after school is an excellent time to accomplish this. Work is due on the date specified when it is assigned. We will help you keep track of this by having you write it in your planner when it is assigned. Work turned in after the assigned due date will not be worth full credit. There will be some assignments that may not be turned in late for any credit at all. An excused absence is the exception to this rule, and we will discuss due dates on an individual basis. We do certain activities or assignments at particular times to help you learn specific information or build specific skills. Completing and turning in work days or weeks late undermines the learning process and makes it more difficult to be successful. Once a unit test is taken, work from that unit may not be accepted late.

2 Behavior/Code of Conduct You are expected to know and uphold all school policies and rules as laid out in the student handbook. In addition, we hold high standards when it comes to behavior in the classroom. We will absolutely expect you to uphold the classroom norms that created together at the beginning of the year. We will spend a great deal of time at the beginning of the year learning and practicing the types of behaviors expected during the day. If you fail to meet these expectations, there will be consequences. Here are a few more expectations that you should be particularly aware of: Technology is an important part of your child s education. Our world is more and more technology driven every day. In order to prepare our students for the increasingly tech-savvy world, we will continually be teaching students how and when to use technology responsibly. To this end, in our classroom, we are now at a 1:1 ratio of school devices to students. That means that we have a laptop for every student every day in our classroom! This also means that cell phones and other personal electronic devices aren t needed to access class assignments or activities. Personal electronic devices (like cell phones or tablets) will not be allowed in Social Studies or History classrooms. After the first week of school (when we will teach and remind students of this policy) a teacher sees a personal electronic device, it will be confiscated. Per building policy, the student may pick it up at the end of the day from the main office. If this happens a second time, a parent or guardian will have to pick it up. Dr. Kemsley may impose further disciplinary penalties. This is also the case in the hallway between classes. However, students may use personal electronic devices in the auditeria before school and during lunch for games and apps. TAKING PHOTOS, OR USING SOCIAL MEDIA ARE NOT ALLOWED DURING THE SCHOOL DAY IN ANY LOCATION AT ANY TIME. Texting is ONLY allowed under the DIRECT supervision of a staff member. Cheating/Plagiarism is passing someone else s ideas, words, or work off as your own. This may be copying your work from another student or website, having someone else do your work for you, or turning in researched work without citing sources appropriately. It is expected that all work turned in will be original, with answers obtained honestly, and within the parameters of the assignment. I expect you to do the work that you expect to earn credit for. This is called academic honesty. Cheating or plagiarism will result in loss of credit for the assignment, a disciplinary referral, and/or a call home. THIS POLICY IS THE SAME FOR STUDENTS GIVING OR RECEIVING ASSISTANCE. Bullying is when someone does something intentionally and repeatedly to hurt someone else, even when asked to stop. Bullying should be reported to a staff member as soon as possible, and can also be reported online at If someone does something hurtful that is unintentional (once or twice), that person is being rude. If someone does something hurtful intentionally once or twice, that is mean. None of these behaviors are acceptable, but they do not all constitute bullying. Students may need adult help with someone being mean or rude, but bullying needs to be reported to an adult, even if the student feels they have solved the problem.

3 Grading Policy Attitude, attendance, and effort will lead to success in this class! Please remember that being present in class is very important, as is turning in work in a timely fashion! Grades will be tentatively (and approximately) based on the following criteria: Daily Classwork - 40% This piece includes formative assessments, individual assignments, coursepack work, and group work. Projects/Assessments - 60% These will be in the quizzes, test, and projects. They may be digital, written or verbal. We will use Infinite Campus to manage your grades electronically. You should check your grade often, and make sure that you understand it. Please ask if you don t understand something. You need a minimum of 60% to pass this class. Here is the grading scale that will be used for our class: A B D A C D B C D B C E 59 0 Extra Credit The only extra credit in this class is Social Studies Bingo. If you choose to take advantage of this opportunity you will need to complete a variety of tasks over the 12-week trimester. You will need to get a BINGO: vertically, horizontally or diagonally on the sheet. Every BINGO earns two points of extra credit with a maximum of 4 points or a one grade bump. You can only move up one third of a letter grade using extra credit. (Ex: A- to A, C+ to B-, etc). Each completed task should be in PUBLISHED final copy format, with sources properly cited, and stapled to the bingo sheet for review by the teacher. Your parents should initial each completed box on the Bingo sheet. In order to be eligible for extra credit ALL regularly assigned work must be turned in. Communication and Extra Help We will be using the Infinite Campus Messenger and Remind to communicate with students, parents and guardians this year. Students will be taught how to best access and use Infinite Campus during school and if parents or guardians need assistance, please ask. Remind is a website that allows us to send messages to your , as a text to your cell phone, or as a notification through the Remind app. For information on how to join Remind, please see the back of this sheet. If you need extra help, we are available before school each day and several times a week after school. Please come see us if you are struggling! In addition, there will be teachers in the Media Center before and after school Monday-Thursday to support you in the Extended Day Learning program. This is drop in so you don t need to sign up ahead of time; you can just stop in whenever you need help.

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5 I have read and understand the Classroom Policies for Mrs. Lonsberry s 6th Grade Social Studies class. Parent/Guardian Signature date Student Signature date Student (printed name) This signed document is due on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th, Please make sure to turn this sheet over to complete a parent survey.

6 Dear Parents/Guardians, Please take a few minutes to complete the following questions about your child. Please provide any and all information you think will help me as I get to know your child and his/her educational needs. Please have your child return this sheet to me by Friday, September 15th. Feel free to send it back in a sealed envelope for privacy. Thank you! Sincerely, Mrs. Lonsberry Parent s/guardian s Name(s): Address(es): Child s Name: Age: General attitude toward school and learning: (enthusiastic, reluctant, anxious, excited, etc.) Interests/Hobbies: Special talents and/or things they are proud of: What are your goals for your child this year? What do you hope to see him/her accomplish or overcome? Is there ANYTHING else I should know to support your child in the classroom?